Romantic kissing: is it cultural and universal?

Is romantic kissing cultural? Does romantic kissing occur in all cultures? Researchers from the University of Nevada and the Indiana University in the United States conducted the first large-sample cross-cultural study of the presence or absence of the romantic-sexual kiss in 168 cultures (American Anthropologist, Vol. 117, No. 3, 2015). 

They defined the romantic kiss as ‘lip-to-lip contact by lovers that may or may not be prolonged’ – hence they were not concerned with ‘greeting’ kissing, but only romantic kissing. They wanted to determine whether romantic kissing was cultural and universal.

William R. Jankowiak and Shelly L. Volsche from the department of anthropology in the University of Nevada in Las Vegas and Justin R. Garcia from the department of gender studies in the Indiana University in Bloomington conducted the research.

The 2015 study used data from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) and the electronic Human Relations Area Files World Cultures (eHRAF). Because the two studies over-lap some data, the researchers only used data from societies in SCCS that were not in the eHRAF. Therefore, they used 27 cultures from SCCS and 128 cultures from eHRAF, and 13 additional cultures from ethnographers, to total 168 cultures.

They used a restrictive definition of kissing (not rubbing noses, cheek kissing, kissing the body, or passing glance of the lips). Their conventional definition of romantic kissing was lip-to-lip contact by lovers that was intentional, focused, and with the potential of being prolonged (but may or may not be prolonged). They did not note frequency, only whether there was the presence or absence of romantic kissing in each of the 168 cultures.

Cultures were divided into 8 areas: Africa, Central America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America.

The results showed that 77 cultures (46%) had evidence of romantic kissing and 91 cultures (54%) did not. Therefore, romantic kissing is not universal, or even near universal.

Romantic kissing was most prevalent in the Middle East – 100% (10 cultures out of 10 cultures studied) showed the presence of romantic kissing. In Asia 73% of cultures had the presence of romantic kissing (27 out of 37 cultures studied). In Europe 70% of cultures had the presence of romantic kissing (7 out of 10 cultures studied). In North America, 55% of cultures romantically kissed (18 out of 33 cultures studied). In Oceania, 44% of cultures had the presence of romantic kissing (7 out of 16 cultures studied). In South America, 19% of cultures had the presence of romantic kissing (4 out of 21 cultures studied). In Africa, 13% of cultures kissed romantically (4 out of 31 cultures studied). There were no cultures in Central America that kissed romantically (0 out of 10 cultures studied).

There was no evidence of romantic kissing in Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea, or the Amazonian cultures of South America.

Researchers noted that 82% of complex, stratified cultures had the presence of romantic kissing (37 out of 45 cultures). Next were 37% of simple stratified cultures (20 out of 54 cultures). Last were 29% of egalitarian cultures (20 out of 69 cultures). 

Stratified cultures or societies have a hierarchical system based on rank positions with or without a centralized political authority. They defined simple stratification as ‘having a hierarchical system based on rank positions that lack a centralized political authority’ and complex cultures have ‘denser populations, social classes, and centralized political leadership.’ If romantic kissing was universal, researchers would expect to see a balance between complex, simple and egalitarian cultures. However, this was not the case.

While the study concluded that only 46% of cultures showed evidence of romantic kissing, which means that it is not universal, researchers said the absence of evidence in cultures does not mean that the behavior is truly absent. They also found that romantic kissing appeared late in human evolutionary history. It may have developed as communication to increase the bonding of relationships through ‘biobehavioural partner assessment’ or conforming to the cultural norm. Or it may just be ‘a pleasurable part of sexual repertoires that vary across place and time.’

Auguste Rodin's The Kiss (1889)